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The German-speaking Community of Belgium numbers 77,000, residing in an area of Belgium that was ceded by the former German Empire as part of the Treaty of Versailles, which concluded World War I. In 1940, Nazi Germany re-annexed the region, following its invasion of Belgium during World War II; after the war it was returned to Belgium.
The European Union is a supranational union composed of 27 member states. The total English-speaking population of the European Union and the United Kingdom combined (2012) is 256,876,220 [70] (out of a total population of 500,000,000, [71] i.e. 51%) including 65,478,252 native speakers and 191,397,968 non-native speakers, and would be ranked 2nd if it were included.
In 1962–1963 four language areas were formally determined: the Dutch-language area (now also corresponding with the Flemish Region), the bilingual area of Brussels-Capital, (whose borders came to determine those of the present Brussels-Capital Region), the French-language area, and the German-language area (together coinciding with Wallonia).
Additionally, there is a small group of German-speakers who live in the East Cantons located around the High Fens area, and bordering Germany. Belgium's strongly globalized economy [1] and its transport infrastructure are integrated with the rest of Europe. Its location at the heart of a highly industrialized region helped make it the world's ...
It has a surface area of 16,901 km 2 (6,526 sq mi), or 55.1% of Belgium, and is also divided into 5 provinces which contain a total of 262 municipalities. Its capital is Namur. The official languages are French and, only in the nine eastern municipalities that form the German-speaking Community near the German border, German.
The Executive (government) of the German-speaking Community meets in Eupen.. The German-speaking Community (German: Deutschsprachige Gemeinschaft (Belgiens), pronounced [ˈdɔʏtʃˌʃpʁaːxɪɡə ɡəˈmaɪnʃaft ˈbɛlɡi̯əns], DG), [a] also known as East Belgium (German: Ostbelgien [ˈɔstˌbɛlɡi̯ən] ⓘ), [2] [b] is one of the three federal communities of Belgium. [3]
The vast majority of Belgium's population, 99%, is literate as defined by the Belgian government, i.e. capable of reading and writing in an official language by the time a citizen has reached the age of 15. English is the official (meetings) language of the European Commission, 10% of the job market in Brussels.
Founded in 1962 as a weekly magazine, it is the oldest media outlet in English in Belgium and remains one of the oldest English-language publications in Continental Europe. Today it claims a monthly online audience of 150,000 unique readers [ 1 ] mostly from the large expatriate community of the European Union 's capital.